Trade Talk Tuesday: Freddy Sanchez dealt to the San Francisco Giants
Back in the 2004 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a trade for a young second baseman prospect by the name of Freddy Sanchez. Little did they know at the time, but two years later, he would win the National League batting title beating out Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrerra on the last day of the regular season. He would go on to man second base for the Pirates for five and a half seasons and played solid baseball for Pittsburgh. He had a batting average over .300 three times in his Pirates career and was named a National League All-Star three times as a Pirate.
However, the 2008 and 2009 Pirates were trade crazy as that started the rebuild that would help get the Pirates back to the playoffs during the 2013 season. One of those trades sent Sanchez to the San Francisco Giants and the Pirates got Minor League pitcher Tim Alderson in return. Alderson was a top-prospect for the Giants in Low-A ball, so at the time the trade looked good for both teams as the Giants needed a second baseman and the Pirates were stockpilling prospects. Now it's time to take a look at how the trade unfolded in our weekly Trade Talk Tuesday!
San Francisco Giants Get: IF Freddy Sanchez
During the 2009 season, the San Francisco Giants were desperate for an everyday starting Second Baseman. They started the year with young second baseman Emmanuel Burris, and the position seemed to be a revolving door of young defensive players. That is until they traded for 31-year old second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who was having a bounce back season with Pittsburgh hitting .296 with six home runs and 34 RBI. He moved right into the starting second baseman position, and manned that spot for the Giants for the next three seasons.
His best season with the Giants came in 2010 when he helped San Francisco win the World Series. Sanchez hit a healthy .292 with seven home runs and 47 RBI while playing in 111 games that season. He was recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and he wasn't able to start his season until May of 2010. However, when he came back, he was back to his normal self hitting the ball at a healthy clip while playing solid defense, with a .991 fielding percentage. He played an integral part in the 2010 World Series, hitting .273 with three RBI in the five games. It was the first World Series for the Giants since the 1954 season and brought on the start of three championships in the next five seasons.
Sanchez would play just one more season following the 2010 World Series Championship, and ended up being riddled with injuries. He had to go through another shoulder injury in 2011 that required a second shoulder surgery. He missed the rest of the 2011 season, and suffered a setback during a rehab assignment in 2012 that forced him to miss that entire season as well. In the end, the injury would force Sanchez to retire following the 2012 season, but he was able to retire as a World Series Champion with a great career behind him. I don't know if Sanchez's career would be considered a Hall of Fame effort, but it was a good run with many accolades along rhe way.
Pirates Get: RHP Tim Alderson
At the time of the trade, Tim Alderson was a big pick-up for the Pirates, a team with little to no pitching depth in their farm system. Alderson ranked as one of Baseball's 50 best prospects and had the numbers to back it up. He had made 18 starts between Advanced-A and Double-A and went an impressive 7-2 with an ERA in the Mid-threes. He would join a group of Pirates pitching prospects that included Brad Lincoln, Daniel Moskos, and Bryan Morris. In terms of rankings, Alderson would immediately rank among the best pitching prospects in the Pirates system, and was sent immediately to Double-A Altoona.
However, once he was in the Pirates Minor Legue system, the wheels began to fall off and he finished the 2009 season going 3-1 with an unimpressive 4.66 ERA. He couldn't get his strikeout pitch to work for him, with 18 in 38.2 innings of work, and when he gave up hits they usually went for extra bases as he gave up 38 extra base hits last season. The one positive for Alderson during that 2009 season was his control as he walked just 13 batters. Hoping that it was just the adjustment that made him go awry, Alderson returned for 2010, but things didn't get much better as he posted a career-high 6.03 ERA between Double and Triple-A.
Alderson would stay in the Pirates Mjnor League system for three more seasons, before he was sent to the Baltimore Orioles in a Minor Trade involving third baseman Ross Canszler. Alderson Alderson never made it past the Triple-A level with any organization he was a part if as he seemingly could not pitch higher than the Double-A level with any success. He tried with the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland Athletics, and Washington Nationals, but Triple-A was the highest the right-hander ever ended up making it. Alderson would retire following the 2016 season after being released by the Washington Nationals and he hasn't pitched in pro baseball ever since.
Winner: San Francisco Giants
The winner of this trade is pretty obvious looking back on it, and no it's not the Pittsburg Pirates. San Francisco got just what they needed in this trade, and it ended up helping them make it to the World Series in 2010. Sanchez provided veteran leadership at second base, and helped develop a young second base prospect in San Francisco by the name of Joe Panick. While his career may not have ended the way he would have liked it to, Sanchez put up solid numbers throughout his time in the Major Leagues. One thing is for sure, he was one of the best Pirates players of the late 2000s.
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